Argyll bands competing at the 2013 World Pipe Band Championships

[Updated 23.00 on Grade 1 position after quaifying.] There are 16 Argyll pipe bands competing at the 2013 World Pipe Band Championships – the first one to run over two days – taking place at Glasgow Green today, 17th August and tomorrow, Sunday 18th August.

Only one of the 16 bands with an Argyll connection – Lomond and Clyde – was competing today in a competition all the way to its final. If this was football, their supporters might say that Lomond and Clyde ‘wus robbed’. More later.

One of the Argyll bands, Inveraray & District Grade 1 band, competed its two qualifying heats – the March, Strathspey and Reel and the Medley – details below.

The other 14 Argyll bands play tomorrow.

The Argyll bands at the 2013 Worlds

Novice

Oban High School

Kintyre Schools

Dunoon Gramar School

Mid Argyll

Juvenile

Oban High School

Kintyre Schools

Inveraray & District

Grade 4B

Rothesay and District

Mull and Iona

Dunoon Argyll

Mid Argyll

Grade 3A

Rothesay & District

Cowal

Isle of Islay

Grade 2

Lomond & Clyde

Grade 1

Inveraray & District

Great to see an Aryll band at the Worlds for the first time [or the first time since...?]. The Mull and Iona Pipe Band competes in Grade 4B tomorrow. This sees the big three Argyll islands, Bute, Islay and Mull with pipe bands in competition.

There are three different bands from Cowal – Dunoon Grammar School, Dunoon Argyll, and Cowal, which says a lot for the piping tradition in that part of Argyll, supported over time by the contribution of the respected Strachur Piping School.

Mid Argyll has four bands competing, two from each of two band clubs – details below.

Three Argyll band clubs have entered two bands each:

Mid Argyll with both a Novice and a Grade 4B band, ;

Rothesay & District with both a Grade 4B and a Grade 3A band;

Inveraray & District with both a Juvenile and a Grade 1 band, the only Argyll band to compete at the highest level.

Inveraray & District through to Grade 1 Final on Sunday 18th August

Argyll’s only Grade 1 band, Inveraray and District, was competing today in the two qualifying heats to decide which 12 bands will compete in the Final, the Worlds’ premier event, tomorrow.

Inveraray & District were drawn in what was by far the most competitive group, Heat 1 – containing no fewer that five of the best pipe bands in the world. The other group contained two.

Inveraray were up against 20111 and 2012 World Champions, Field Marshal Montgomery from Northern Ireland; 2010 World Champions, Simon Fraser University from Vancouver; St Laurence O’Toole from Ireland; and Shotts and Dykehead.

Heat 2 had Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia and Scottish Power.

Inveraray & District , with scores of 4, 2, 2, 2 came second to Field Marshal Montgomery, with scores of 1, 1, 3, 1 in the March, Strathspey and Reel; and fourth in the Medley with scores of 5, 4, 4, 2 behind, in first place, Simon Fraser University with scores of 1, 1, 6, 1; St Laurence Toole in second with 4, 3, 2,3;and in third, Field Marshal Montgomery with 2, 2, 5, 4.

Overall, Inveraray & District with 25 points, have qualified in sixth place for tomorrow’s Grade 1 final, witih the following rank order:

Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia with 14 points

Scottish Power with 18 points

Field Marshal Montgomery with 19 points;

Greater Glasgow Police Pipe Band with 21 points;

Simon Fraser University with 23 points;

Inveraray & District with 25 points.

So what happened to Lomond & Clyde

First of all – this is a story of success.

Lomond & Clyde finished second in the world at the second highest competition level there is, Grade 2

They got to the final by coming first in Heat 2 with a score of 6,1,1,2 – a total of 10 points – where the lower score is the higher ranking.

The first two scores come respectively from Piping Judge 1 and Piping Judge 2; the third score is from the Drumming Judge; and the fourth score from the Ensemble Judge.

In the Grade 2 final, also played today, Lomond & Clyde were beaten into second place by Buchan Peterson, who had come third in Heat 1 with a score of 2,9,1,3 – a total of 15 points.

Buchan Peterson’s final scores for first place were 5, 2, 2, 2.

Lomond & Clyde’s final score for second place was 3, 9, 1, 1 – with that score of 9 from Piping Judge 2, substantially out of kilter with the scores from the other three judges.

There will be a reason for this but in football, whatever that reason might have been, it won’t have satisfied their fans.

However, Buchan Peterson have beaten Lomond & Clyde into second place in two of the three previous major championsips so far this season – where Lomond and Clyde have beaten Buchan Peterson into second once – at the most recent of the three earlier majors, the Scottish Championships.

Tomorrow, Sunday 18th August – all 15 other Argyll pipe bands will be in the chase- and the weather should be somewhat better than it delivered today.